Since He Went Away
by IonaCarta
Summary: How Maddy felt after Rhydian went to live with the wild pack.
1. Chapter 1

Maddy looked up at the moon. Tomorrow night would be her first full moon without Rhydian. She sighed. She missed him so much.  
Mrs Smith came outside and put a hand in her daughter's shoulder.  
"You're missing him aren't you?" Maddy nodded. "I miss him too." Maddy made a disbelieving noise.  
"You couldn't wait to see the back of him!"  
"Now you know that's not true! He was a part of our pack, of course we miss him!" Maddy shook her mother's hand off her shoulder and turned to go back inside.

The next day at school was awful. Her body was alive, telling her to run, skip, play, laugh, have fun, but her mind was telling her that none of that would be right without Rhydian. Tom and Shannon noticed this strange conflict of emotions in Maddy, but they didn't say anything until after school. As the moon wouldn't rise for another few hours, the three of them had met up at Bernie's for ice creams.  
"What's up Maddy?" Shannon asked the instant they had all sat down, "it's a full moon tonight, yet I've never seen you so down!" Maddy sighed.  
"Rhydian," she began, "it just doesn't seem right without him somehow. This is the first full moon of my transformation that I've had without him, it just doesn't feel right." Shannon and Tom looked understanding.  
"Yeah, we miss him too." Said Tom.  
"No, you don't, not like I do. Him and me... I'd never had another wolfblood of my own age before, and now, he's gone." She sniffed, swallowing hard to banish the lump forming in her throat. She finished her ice cream and stood up. "I have to go... The moon will be rising soon..." Shannon frowned at her.  
"But its ages til moonrise..."  
"I know, I, er, promised my parents I'd help them set up the den..." And with that she dashed out of the café and down the road.  
She didn't go straight home, however.

Shannon had been right, there were still a couple of hours until the moon rose, so she ran into the woods. She ran and ran, trying to get rid of what Rhydian had called the "pre-transformation blues". But no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't get rid of the aching feeling in her heart, and deep down, she new that what she was experiencing wasn't because of the full moon. It was because of how much she missed Rhydian.

She ran on, not noticing where her feet were taking her, until suddenly her foot slipped and she found herself tumbling down the side of a bank and into a small stream. She gasped as the sudden cold of the water shocked her, then crawled out, shaking herself on the bank of the stream. As she stood up, pain flared in her left ankle and she fell down with a gasp. She was fairly sure it wasn't broken, but there was no way she was getting home before tonight! She remembered what her mum had told her just before her first transformation, when Rhydian had faked a sprained ankle so that they could remain on the island. "the full moon heals almost anything in a wolfblood." Maddy sat back on the pebbles. There was no point trying to return to the den tonight, she was miles away from home. She would wait here for the moon to rise, and spend the full moon out in the woods, with the memory of Rhydian to keep her company. This was where he had been the happiest, this was where her best memories of him were. Maddy smiled. What better way to spend the full moon?


	2. Chapter 2

Rhydian was running, running with the wild pack, running as a wolf, running as one with nature. His whole body was filled with joy at the freedom he had never known before. On his right, his mother ran, her fur ruffling in the wind as she ran, ran, with the rest of the pack. On his left, was Jana, the girl he loved, the only... Rhydian stopped in his tracks, tumbling over his own paws, as the pack ran on, some leaping over him, some turning to the left or the right. Jana paused, looking back. He got to his feet and ran to catch up to the pack. He couldn't think about Maddy now.

As the full moon rose above the trees, Maddy got slowly to her feet, leaning against a nearby tree to support herself. She watched as the silver orb mounted higher in the sky, then, she felt it. The tingling in her fingers that signified the start of her transformation.

The pack stopped running at the base of a tree. The tree was over two thousand years old, a sacred place for wolfbloods. The broad trunk was gnarled and the ground was littered with pine needles. Rhydian stepped forward softly, inhaling the scent of the needles as they were crushed beneath his paws. The rest of the pack were circling the tree, gazing at the moon. None of them noticed as Rhydian slipped away into the night.

Maddy looked down at her back paw. It was completely healed. She howled jubilantly up at the moon and took off running, not knowing or caring where she went.

Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was deliberate. Both wolfbloods found themselves on top of the highest hill on the moor.

Maddy looked up and saw him watching her. She sniffed the air. Rhydian?

He watched her as she came closer. God she was beautiful. The way her body moved gracefully, her ears forward, her sleek fur so soft and smooth, her... OOF!

She leapt onto him, knocking him over. He sprang to his feet, growling, until he saw her face, playful, even in wolf form. He shook out his fur and pounced, knocking into her. They played all night, until the moon set behind the hill.

They sat side by sat, watching the moon go down. They transformed at the same time and looked at each other.

"I have to go back."

"What?"

"To the wild pack"

"But you only just got back!"

"I know... I'll come back sometimes, to visit..." She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.

"No... Its where you belong..."

"Maddy..."

"Go!" She turned away, not wanting him to see how much his words had upset her. He turned too, looking back as he transformed back into the wolf. He watched her stumble through the woods and out of sight, then turned and ran back across the moors to his pack.


	3. Chapter 3

How could he do that? She had thought he had come back, she had been so happy. Then, he was gone. Again! This wasn't fair. Maddy made her way back to the house, half blinded by tears she refused to release.

Her parents were still in the cellar when she arrived. She went downstairs cautiously, unsure if they were awake. They were.

"Young lady, what do you think you were up to? Sneaking off, on a full moon!"

"Mam, I twisted my ankle! I did mean to come back, honest I did!"

"Hmm, we'll see about that..." Maddy bared her teeth at the door in front of her.

"It's just as bad as when he was here! This is exactly the sort of thing you and Rhydian-"  
Maddy didn't stay to hear the rest of that sentence. She stormed up the stairs, the tears that had been waiting to fall now streaming down her cheeks.

Maddy found herself in her bedroom, not really caring what she was doing there. How could her mother say that about Rhydian? She sat on her bed, wishing she didn't have to go to school.

When Maddy walked into form ten minutes late, Tom and Shannon looked up anxiously.

"Are you alright? You look like you've been crying!" Shannon whispered.

"I'll tell you later." Promised Maddy, rubbing at her eyes.

At break, she told them all about how she hadn't been home for the full moon, and how Rhydian had come home, but then left again. When she told them this, she felt the lump rise in her throat and tears start in her eyes.

"Come here." Shannon folded her arms around her best friend and Tom did the same. Maddy smiled a watery smile at them when they let go.

"Thanks..." She said.

"Don't mention it." Said Shannon, smiling at her.

Over the next few months, although Rhydian returned to the same spot on the moor, Maddy didn't return. As a matter of fact, she knew he was there, but she was too angry with him, or she knew she might not be able to let him go if she did. After the first few times, the wild pack moved on, and Rhydian didn't come back.

On the third full moon since Rhydian left, Maddy and her parents went down into the den together. Maddy had now spent full moon in the cellar several times, and although she knew she would never love it, she was getting used to it.

Dan bumped his head on the card owl hanging from the ceiling. It was a relatively new acquisition, new since the last full moon anyway. It had been a present from Shannon. Maddy laughed as her father rubbed his head.

As the full moon began to rise, the Smiths took each other's hands and transformed, watching the ceiling as if willing themselves through it, into the open, under the moon.

Suddenly Maddy smelled something. It was very far off, but unmistakably... Rhydian?

She began to run around the cellar, sniffing the air, trying to work out where the scent was coming from. He was getting closer, fast! But what was that? Now mingling with the comforting smell of Rhydian, three unfamiliar wolfblood scents were now in the air. Maddy's parents had noticed as well by now. All three wolves began pacing around the walls of their den, howling occasionally.

Rhydian's scent was much closer now, almost on top of them! Suddenly they heard scratching on the coal hatch. Then, unmistakably, the sound of the bolt across it being moved back! That couldn't be right... Rhydian couldn't be moving the bolt by himself, he had no fingers! Maddy sniffed again, and caught the fainter, human scents of Tom and Shannon. What were they doing outside?

The scents of the other wolfbloods were much closer now. Maddy could almost see where they must be, sneaking towards the coal hatch, towards Tom and Shannon and... Rhydian...

Maddy looked up towards the coal hatch and bayed keenly. Suddenly the shutters were wrenched open and three bodies fell through it, two human and one wolf.

The humans picked themselves up off the ground and backed away into a corner. Maddy looked up at Tom and Shannon gratefully, then went and lay down next to Rhydian, who was panting hard. She licked his ear which was bleeding, just glad to have him back, maybe this time, forever.


End file.
